updated 12:11 am EDT, Sat October 19, 2013

CFO Peter Oppenheimer, Cupertino Mayor Orrin Mahoney attend ceremony

Following a vote earlier in the week from the Cupertino City Council granting Apple final approval to begin construction of its $5 billion new headquarters, known as Apple Campus 2, the city has posted a video of the formal ceremony, with officials from both Apple and Cupertino attending. A "rubber-stamp" approval vote will be held on November 15 following a period where last-minute objections or concerns can be addresses, but the outcome is pre-determined: Apple can begin building immediately.

Apple Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer represented the company at the ceremony, and has been seen as the point man for the project recently -- including introducing a huge architectural model of the site, guiding reporters through the details and answering questions about the project alongside Senior Director of Real Estate and Facilities Dan Whisenhunt.

The video (seen below) has remarks from Oppenheimer along with Cupertino Mayor Orrin Mahoney, and runs about 15 minutes long. In it, Mayor Mahoney reveals that he had worked for HP for some 20 years on the site now belonging to Apple for building a giant, four-storey "ring" building that completely renovates the land from the way it presently is (described by Oppeheimer as "a sea of asphalt') and replaces it with a more environmentally-mindful approach that restores most of the purchased land back to its natural state, including orchard trees that reflect the heritage of the land.

Apple is likely to begin breaking ground and getting the project underway immediately, perhaps as soon as later this month. The company has announced an expected move-in time by 2016 -- a year later and $2 billion more than was originally projected. In part, the rising price and later completion date are due to the company's insistence on the "fit and polish" quality of the materials and work, a point insisted on by the late Steve Jobs as he worked with architects on the concepts. The new building,when complete, is expected to hold more than 12,000 employees.

The building is making use of cutting-edge green technologies ranging from its goal of 100 percent renewable energy sources for all power needs down to the unusually wide and curved (but strong) glass windows . Another factor in the delay may have been the strong environmental and impact investigations, public comment and other factors that slowed down the pace of the proposal going forward.